Army: 11 killed in spate of violence in Thai south

Thai soldiers carry injury from a bombing explosion of a motorcycle parked outside a row of open-air shops and restaurants in the city of Pattani Province in Thailand on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Eight people were killed in a string of drive-by shootings and at least 25 were wounded in a bomb blast in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south, in what the army said Thursday was a "unusually high" number of attacks in the restive region. (AP Photo/Sumeth pranphet)
— AP

Thai soldiers carry injury from a bombing explosion of a motorcycle parked outside a row of open-air shops and restaurants in the city of Pattani Province in Thailand on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Eight people were killed in a string of drive-by shootings and at least 25 were wounded in a bomb blast in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south, in what the army said Thursday was a "unusually high" number of attacks in the restive region. (AP Photo/Sumeth pranphet)
/ AP

PATTANI, Thailand 
A spate of shootings, bombings and military raids left 11 people dead and more than 20 wounded over the past two days in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south, officials said Thursday.

The violence was the latest to hit Thailand's three southernmost provinces, where more than 3,700 people have been killed since a Muslim insurgency flared in January 2004.

A bomb hidden in a motorcycle parked outside a row of open-air shops and restaurants in Pattani city exploded Thursday, killing one Buddhist man and wounding 24 others, said army spokesman Col. Parinya Chaidilok. Three victims were in critical condition.

A number of drive-by shootings Wednesday in the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala left eight dead, including a Muslim teacher and his 13-year-old son, Parinya said. All the victims were Muslims except for one Buddhist civilian.

Security forces raided a rubber plantation in Yala and a house in Narathiwat on Wednesday, sparking separate gunbattles in which two suspected insurgents were killed, Parinya said.

"There were an unusually high number of incidents in recent days and the security forces are stepping up measures to prevent attacks," Parinya said. "It's not clear why the number of incidents has gone up and it does not look like they were coordinated."

The shadowy insurgents are generally believed to be fighting to carve out an independent Muslim state. The area used to be an Islamic sultanate until it was annexed by Thailand in the early 20th century.

A massive counterinsurgency effort had slowed the pace of attacks in the region, but over the past two weeks, the number of incidents has risen. The surge in violence coincided with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

"The number of incidents go up every year during this period," said Srisompob Jitpiromsri, who studies the violence at Pattani's Prince of Songkhla University. "Some believe insurgents stage symbolic attacks during Ramadan to demonstrate their ethno-political objective, rather than a religious one."

Militants target civil servants and others working with the government, including soldiers, police and informants. Attacks on civilians are believed intended to scare the Buddhist community into fleeing.

Authorities say militants also target Muslims suspected of collaborating with the government.

While many do not support the insurgents, there is widespread feeling among Muslims that they are regarded as second-class citizens by predominantly Buddhist Thai authorities.

The three southern provinces are the only Muslim-majority areas in the Buddhist-dominated country.

The southern Thais are of the same ethnicity as Malays across the border in Malaysia and share the same religion, culture, food and language.